Friday, February 17, 2017

Backyard Bash: Relay Scrimmage Opens 2017 Season

San Jose, CA - Track & Field is officially underway as the season kicked off with a school record and multiple performances landing on Valley Christian all-time list at the season opener Wednesday.

The Backyard Bash Relays is the brainchild of Jason Guven, the cross country and distance coach at Andrew Hill, who about 5 years ago invited nearby schools for a run in Hellyer Park during cross country season. The low key run between neighborhood schools always seemed to end in some strong performances. Carrying that idea into track season the Backyard Bash scrimmage was born. Almost entirely relays the focus of the meet is introducing new athletes to a sport while running non-traditional events such as a co-ed 4 x 800 relay, 800 Sprint Medley and 4 x 200, the environment provided a fun and festive "rust buster" to kick off the season.

Despite the low-key vibe the Warriors had some early season scorchers. The boys 4 x 100 meter relay team of Nick Trofort, Charlie Bostic, Gary Coleman and Alton Julian scorched a 43.58, the sixth fastest time ever in school history.

Later that evening DeAngelo McKenzie, Charlie Bostic, Alton Julian and Deven Vandebilt smashed the school record in the 4 x 200 meters running 1:33.90. The time betters the previous record by a whomping 7 seconds!

The girls also had some outstanding performances. Nicole Shak completed her first 100 meter hurdle race after taking a fall that resulted in surgery two years ago. Admittedly nervous she went on to finish in a personal best 17.05, the fifth fastest time in school history! Remarkably Caitlyn Rowland finished just 0.01 seconds behind in 17.06, which is #6 on the all-time list.

The girls 4 x 200 meter relay team of Aamani Ponnekanti, Nicole Hobaugh, Caitlyn Rowland and Jessy Fang ran 1:55.84, just missing the school record by 0.65 off the record

Links: Results / Pics

Additional Team Highlights:
  • Matt Weeks had a decent debut jumping 20-0 in the long jump, 41-6 in the triple jump and 5-8 in the high jump. He also anchored the sprint medley relay team at 400 meters.
  • Last year's WCAL Champions Max Moore (discus) and Dylan McCreery (Shot Put) won their respective events, but admittedly wanted more. McCreery tossed a winning throw of 44-0.5, Moore 136-
  • D'Angelo McKenzie won the 110 High Hurdles in 15.66 leaving where he left off at the end of last season. He was the top ranked sophomore in the section last season.
  • In the spirit of keeping things fun this year featured a co-ed 4 x 800 meter where teams mixed two boys and two girls. Cameron Lockard, Ashley Clayton, Hannah Theaker and Sam Cuevas combined to run 9:22.60.
  • The girls middle-distance crew of Vanessa Zenere (68), Alexis Zenere (69), May Aguilar (70) and Ashley Clayton (62) ran a strong 4:30.06 in the 4 x 400 meters to close out the meet. 


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